


This Is a Place Where I Don't Feel Alone

by Spacejoth



Category: Bayonetta (Video Games)
Genre: Bittersweet, Domesticity, F/F, Light Angst, adopting a cat, historical mentions, this was supposed to be long and wholesome then i made it short and slightly sad, unedited bc this is what i call...an experiment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-28
Updated: 2019-09-28
Packaged: 2020-10-29 22:15:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20803847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spacejoth/pseuds/Spacejoth
Summary: Jeanne, in her 500 years of running, collecting, and isolation did not ever imagine a life of comfort. It was the littlest of things that made life real again.





	This Is a Place Where I Don't Feel Alone

**Author's Note:**

> Hi I'm Jamie and I haven't written in 2 years.  
Might heck around and actually do the thing where I write again! I love Bayonetta and this is a solid why filter out how impatient I am for the third game.
> 
> (Title taken from To Build a Home - The Cinematic Orchestra)

The cool breeze of the late-night city wafted through the open window of the third floor apartment. Stretching from the bedroom, Jeanne's reading light was the only glow throughout that gently illuminated the living room. On the arm of the loveseat closest to the window lay a small, purring clump of fur. With twitching ears, the kitten slept soundly, unaware of the two pairs of eyes staring admirably at him. 

"No. Absolutely not."

"Oh, come on."

"We are  _ not _ naming our kitten Salem, Cereza."

From her spot in Cereza's lap, Jeanne was shaking her head. Cereza, crammed between the chair and coffee table on the ground, wrapped her arms around Jeanne's waist with a pout. 

"I think it's a lovely name for a cat!"

Leaning back into her girlfriend's embrace, Jeanne scoffed, "the Salem Witch Trials were  _ not _ lovely. 20 witches and humans alike were executed over allegedly practicing witchcraft."

"Yes, yes I know the drab history, Jeanne," Cereza reached her arm over the other witch's shoulder to gently caress the kittens head, "but it  _ was  _ an awfully long time ago."

The unnamed cat pushed into Cereza's hand, eyes slowly opening. 

Jeanne nudged off Cereza's hold and pulled herself up to sit in the chair, body leaning so she faced the animal. 

"You and I know better than anyone how long ago something occurred is no matter. It would simply be... _ Distasteful  _ to name him that"

With a sigh, Cereza scooted forward to rest her head in Jeanne's lap, the latter's fingers immediately combing through her short, Raven hair. 

"Kitten, push my hand if you like the name Salem," Cereza whispered. 

Once she reached out once again to pet him, his head immediately butted the palm of her hand. 

Grinning sheepishly, she looked up at Jeanne's gentle scowl. "I think his vote is most essential."

"You're impossible," Jeanne groaned, un-doing the careful part of her girlfriend's hair by pushing it to the opposite side. 

Cereza had been at this game since they stepped out of the pet store, cat carrier pressed tightly to her chest, lips quirking into a smile as Jeanne fussed over the confused (and very loud) kitten. 

Why she  _ insisted  _ on the name Salem was beyond Jeanne, but seeing the excited shine in Cereza's eyes every time she heard a small chirp from the carrier was worth pulling up an extensive timeline of the witch trials on her phone. 

Though she wasn't fond of admitting it, Jeanne knew the name "Salem" was awfully fitting for the sleek, black short-hair they had brought into their home, she could not quite pinpoint as to why. 

Even so, she nudged the idea away, and perhaps it was simple muscle memory to deny anything that poked playfulness at the umbra witches. Cereza didn't seem to mind the irony in the name. She had, in fact, called Jeanne an "old lady" and said she "sounded like a true elder witch." 

Lifting her head to prop it on her hand, Cereza's face softened out of it's playfulness. 

"What if we named him Charles," she mused. 

"Well," Jeanne froze her toying with the other woman's hair, "That's certainly much less…"

Trailing away, Jeanne glanced at the cat as he lazily stretched. She had, quite truly, wanted to suggest they name him  _ Cheshire _ , assuming that would be the first name Cereza proposed anyways. Charles, the real Charles, was long forgotten in storage alongside anything else Jeanne saw as a relic of the umbra. Of course, most of said relics she had to recover herself. Both the journey and destination of finding the old tomes, statue remains, and jewels were a bitter taste in her mouth. 

She felt a shift from the ground, and opened her arms up as Cereza curled next to her in the chair, careful of where her feet kicked. 

"Hey," she said, grabbing Jeanne's chin to face her, "it was only a suggestion, I want to ensure this is just as much your cat as it is mine."

"I know," her recollection of a less fortunate time slipped away as she leaned in to Cereza's arms once again. 

"I thought the name Cheshire would be rather fitting, no? 

"I'd say all of them. Jeanne, you wouldn't be opposed to getting  _ three  _ cats now, would you?"

Voice and grin betraying her Jeanne tried to stay stern, "Absolutely not. We are not going to become crazy cat ladies."

The laugh that escaped Cereza was light and loving, and reached through all of Jeanne warmly. 

She, with this cat crawling down to sit between them and Cereza's lips on her cheek, felt home. 


End file.
